Mysterious Admirer
by SethNSummerShipper
Summary: Summer receives Secret Admirer letters at her home and in her locker at school. She is positive that Seth is sending them to her, but...what if she's wrong? 1st OC fic, please be kind in reviews ;P
1. Default Chapter

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A/N: Be prepared...there's isn't a real beginning to the story, it just kinda dives right in...I dunno how I feel about that, lol, but it didn't seem so random and stuff when I wrote it. I guess b/c it's mostly dialogue and stuff. I might fix that later. Also, be aware that this is my FIRST OC fic [I'm used to writing either O-Town or more recently—Gilmore Girls] I always try to stay in character in my fanfics, but new categories are kinda hard, so please bear with me. I'll decide whether I want to continue or not after reading your reviews.

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Mysterious Admirer

Chapter 1

"Coop, I got another one of those letters today," Summer Roberts informed her best friend, Marissa Cooper.

"Another one?"

"Yeah, and it's, like, _totally_ creeping me out." Summer shuddered. "I mean, I know Cohen has some kind of thing for me, but—can you say stalker?"

"How can you even be sure that the letters are from him?" Marissa asked. "I mean, they are typed, they just appear in your locker, and they aren't signed."

"It is so obviously Cohen," Summer replied, rolling her eyes. "There's no other possibility. Any other guy would, like, just say those things to my face."

"You just want them to be from Seth. I'm not saying they aren't from him, because—hey, how would I know—but he can't be the only—"

"Stalker I have?" Summer put in.

"—guy that's too shy to say those things out loud," Marissa finished with a grin. "Those letters are pretty personal, Summer."

"Whatev, Coop, I don't even care. I just wish they would stop."

Marissa shrugged. "I think it's sweet."

"It's, like, totally creepy is what it is," Summer corrected. "Anyway, I better get going. My step-mother is calling me downstairs."

"Alright, see you later."

"Bye." Summer hung up the phone, walking leisurely downstairs. She looked at her step-mother expectantly, but the woman didn't even look up. Summer started tapping her foot rapidly, her short heels interupting the silence with a deafening sound whose echo could be heard throughout the house.

Finally, her step-mother looked up. "Oh, there you are. You have mail." She waved a hand in the direction of the pile of mail on the table, then she went back to reading the newspaper and sipping her coffee.

Summer snatched the mail from the table, sorted through it, and hurried back upstairs, her heels making even more noise. She didn't care. Once the door was safely closed behind her, she took a closer look at her 'mail'. It was a plain white envelope, with SUMMER carefully written on the front. No addresses on it at all. The person must have dropped it off personally.

Shivering slightly, Summer tore open the envelope and pulled out the piece of paper inside. Her eyes slowly swept over the page, and she felt herself starting to blush.

__

Summer,

I had another dream about you last night. We were at the beach, and this time, you didn't even try to fight it. You immediately gave in to me, falling into my arms. It was then that I realized that you would be mine. I know it was only a dream, but I know that once you find out who I am, things will change. You will be mine, and I will be yours. Once I reveal myself to you, you will have already fallen, and there will be no turning back. But don't worry, I will be there to catch you. No worries about that. I wish I could hold you in my arms, tell you to your face just how I feel, but it is too soon. Yes, it is much better this way. But trust me, you and I will meet eventually, just give it time. I can't wait.

Always,

your Secret Admirer

"Like, _ew_." Summer bit her lip, staring at the typed letter in her hand. She seriously did not know what to think. It didn't sound like Seth Cohen, but...who else could it be?

*****

"Cohen!"

Seth looked up from his locker, his eyes on Summer as she stormed over. Uh oh. _What did I do this time?_ he wondered.

"Hey, Summer," he greeted, turning back to his locker to grab his books. Summer stopped him, her hand on his. He stared at their hands, a smile on his face. Summer quickly drew her hand back.

"Ew." She glanced around quickly to make sure no one had seen, before her eyes flew back to him. "Listen, Cohen, I don't _want_ those letters anymore."

He waited for her to continue, but she didn't. She just stared at him with her arms crossed. He shrugged at her in confusion. "I give up. What letters?"

"What le—" She rolled her eyes. "You _know_ what letters I'm talking about. The creepy ones."

"You're getting creepy letters?"

"You're, like, stalking me!" she cried.

"I prefer to think of it as _observing_ you; I wouldn't go so far as calling me a stalker. Then again, what would I—"

"Just stop with the letters, if you know what's good for you," she threatened, walking off.

Seth made a face, saluting her. "Sure thing," he said sarcastically, slamming his locker closed and heading to his first class.

"I'm telling you, she thinks I'm stalking her."

"Well, dude, you kind of are," Ryan Atwood told Seth.

Seth pretended to be shocked. "I most certainly am—okay, yeah, I know pretty much everything about her, but that doesn't qualify me as a stalker, now does it?" He paused and Ryan gave him a look. "No, yeah, I guess it would look like that."

Marissa and Summer walked over, and Marissa set her lunch try on the table in front of Ryan, sitting down. Summer stared at Seth, not moving.

"Coop, I'm gonna go sit outside today, okay? It's nice out."

Marissa frowned. "Well, okay. You want me to come too?"

"No, stay here, I'm fine." And with that, Summer hurried to the double doors that led outside.

"I'm just gonna, uh," Seth glanced at Marissa and Ryan, but they were too busy staring at each other to even notice that Seth had spoken.

He went outside, his eyes scanning the courtyard for Summer. He finally spotted her and he walked over.

"Hey."

She looked up. "Hi," she replied reluctantly.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she snapped. Her face softened. "Sorry."

"That's okay, lash out as much as you need to." He patted her on the back. "I'm here."

She rolled her eyes. "_Why_ are you here again?"

"Didn't want to watch Marissa and Ryan stare at each other all through lunch. It's enough to make me lose mine. Now why are _you_ here?"

"Like stalking me through my mail isn't enough, you have to stalk me at school, too?"

Seth reeled back. "I haven't been sending you letters, Summer." She just glared at him, and he held his hands up in surrender. "Fine, don't believe me. I'll be going now."

"Cohen, wait," she called as he started to stand up.

"Yeah?"

"Everywhere I turn, there's another letter. If you aren't writing them, who is?"

He shook his head. "I don't know." Offering her a small smile, he stood up and walked back into the cafeteria.

Summer put her head in her hands, confused. Why did everything always have to happen to _her_?

*****

"Mr. Cohen, are you with us?"

A few kids in the class started snickering, and Ryan nudged Seth. Snapping out of his daze, Seth frowned at his friend. "Dude, what?"

"Glad to see you're awake, Mr. Cohen. Now if you think you can stay awake for twenty more minutes, maybe we can get through class without any more interruptions."

Seth nodded at the teacher, red-faced. He looked over at Ryan. "How long had she been trying to get my attention?"

"Just a few minutes," Ryan shrugged. "What's up?"

"Well, I'm obviously not writing those letters to Summer..." Seth paused, deep in thought. "Who do you think is?"

Ryan coughed, pulling out a pen and starting to take notes. "No idea, man."

Seth sighed, trying to pay attention to the teacher. But he couldn't get his mind off of Summer and Mr. Secret Admirer.

After class, he and Ryan bumped into Summer and Marissa.

Ryan flashed Marissa a smile. "Hey," he greeted.

She blushed under his gaze. "Hey."

Seth didn't know if the two were together now or not, but he wished they would just make up their mind already. How hard is it to say 'I like you, do you wanna do something this weekend?' Then again, he guessed it was easier said than done.

"Hey Summer."

Her eyes flicked to him. "Seth."

_Did she just call him Seth?_ Wow, maybe he was making progress.

They all walked over to Summer and Marissa's lockers, which happened to be right next to each other. Summer opened her locker and her heart started beating faster at the site of the plain white envelope laying on top of her books.

"You got another letter?" Marissa asked, peeking into her friend's locker. "Open it!"

Summer quickly stuffed the envelope in her purse, glancing at Seth for a split second. He was watching her. "No, I'm just going to, like, get even more creeped out. I'll trash it when I get home, so someone doesn't, like, read it or something."

"You're not going to read it?" Marissa asked in disappointment. "Can I read it before you throw it away, then? I think it's interesting."

"Coop, no. I shouldn't have even told you about those stupid letters."

"Can I read it?" Seth asked.

Summer looked up, his eyes boring into hers. She blushed. "No way."

He shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for trying. So, what do you two lovely girls have planned for this beautiful day today?"

"What did you have in mind?" Marissa asked him with a raised eyebrow.

Seth exchanged a glance with Ryan. "I'm sure we can come up with something."

"Okay, it's a date."

"Ew. It is not." Summer made a face.

"Alright, so it's a non-date. Do you two need a ride home?"

"That would be great."

"Shotgun," Ryan said as they walked out of the building and headed to Marissa's car.

Summer rolled her eyes as she climbed into the backseat next to Seth.

****

A/N: The letter was cheesy, I know. I'm not sure how many of those I'll actually type out, rather than just refer to them, ya know?? Anyway, please review, but if you didn't like it, try not to be too harsh, if you please. ;D


	2. Shadow

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A/N: First off, thanks for all the nice reviews. ;) I wasn't exactly expected them, so they definitely brought a smile to my face. And sorry I had it where you had to sign in to review—I changed that. They automatically put it like that when you first make a pen name, I guess. I made this name specifically for my OC fics, b/c I have a different one for my other stories. Anyway...I hope you like this chapter, don't forget to review when you're done so I know how I'm doing. Hopefully it won't take too long to put up the next chapter, but I have finals coming up, so I don't know... ;/ I bet I can get at least one more chapter up before then, though. ;P

Chapter 2

"What do you think are we going to do?" Marissa asked an hour later.

She and Summer had dropped their stuff off at Marissa's place, and Marissa had insisted on changing clothes and fixing herself up, even though she looked great already.

"We're probably going to just hang out at the beach or something," Summer called, flipping through a magazine. Suddenly, she shivered. Thinking of the beach reminded her of the letter she had received earlier.

She glanced over at the bathroom door to make sure it was still closed, before she dug through her purse for the envelope that she had stashed in it. While Marissa was in the bathroom, it gave Summer a chance to read the letter. She felt compelled to read it, even though she wasn't so sure she wanted to know what it said. Did that make sense?

She tore open the envelope, grabbing the carefully folded paper inside. Her eyes scanned over the short letter, her brow furrowing in concentration. She didn't even notice Marissa slip back into the room. When she was done, reading, she stuck the letter back in her purse. Looking up, she jumped as she finally noticed Marissa standing there.

"You read the letter," Marissa teased. 

"Yeah, so?" Summer replied defensively. "I couldn't help it."

"And?"

"And this guy needs to be committed. I'm thinking about telling my dad we need to move so this freak won't have our address."

"It's not that bad. Do you still think it's Seth writing the letters?"

"Maybe. Or maybe he's paying someone else to do it," Summer responded thoughtfully.

__

"Right." Marissa rolled her eyes.

"I'm not ruling him out," Summer said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's good. You shouldn't. Now come on, they're waiting."

"You're the one that took forever," Summer mumbled, following Marissa outside.

Sure enough, they did end up going to the beach. As soon as they parked, Marissa and Ryan ran to the water, laughing. They were immediately caught up in a splash war, and Seth and Summer watched as they set down the beach blankets and towels.

Summer swiftly pulled her shirt over her head, revealing her skimpy navy blue bikini top. She tossed her shirt onto the blanket next to her and reached for the lotion. Squirting some on her leg, she rubbed it all over in small, circular motions. Seth watched her, mesmerized. She looked over at him, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Once she had finished putting lotion on her legs and arms, she tried, unsuccessfully, to reach around herself to put it on her back. She gazed at Seth, who was trying awfully hard to keep his eyes off of her. Grinning, she reached over and tapped him on the arm.

He turned to her, his eyes involuntarily scanning the length of her body. Usually, that disgusted her, but this time she found it amusing.

"Cohen, will you help me?" she asked innocently.

He swallowed. "With, uh, with what?"

"My back. I need to put lotion on it or I'll burn to a crisp. Do you mind?"

"No," he replied enthusiastically, taking the lotion from her and scooting over.

Summer's lips curved in a smile as she turned her back to him. "Thanks."

"No problem," he assured her, squirting some lotion on his hands. Oops, too much. He wiped some on his leg, before moving his shaking hands to Summer's back. He gently started to massage the lotion into her skin, and she closed her eyes, pulling her hair away from her neck to make it easier for him. His gaze fell to her exposed skin, and he had to keep reminding himself that all he was allowed to do was lotion her back. None of...none of the other stuff he was thinking about. Oh boy, no, that would be wrong.

The tension left Summer's shoulders, and she was just beginning to relax...when his hands stopped.

"Done."

She sighed, laying down on her stomach and squinting over at him. "Thanks, Cohen."

Back to being called Cohen? Damn. Oh well, he'd take it. If it meant he got back-lotioning priviledges, he sure as hell would take it. "Anytime."

About an hour later, Ryan and Marissa were walking down the beach, hand in hand, and Seth and Summer were still laying on the blankets. Seth glanced over at Summer and his eyes widened.

Summer had fallen asleep on her stomach, and her back was bright pink. It was almost painful just to look at. Seth reached over and gently shook her.

"Summer...Summer wake up!" he said urgently.

She swatted his hand away. "Go away."

"Summer, you better flip over. Your back is—"

Summer rolled over and let out a cry. "Ow—oh no."

Seth reached into the beach bag sitting at the end of the blanket. "Here, lay back down. Let me put this stuff on you, it should help."

Summer obediently lay back down, and Seth grabbed a small bottle from the beach bag sitting next to him. He gently rubbed the lotion on the redness. It felt cool on her back, and it took away some of the sting.

"Mm."

"Am I hurting you?" Seth asked.

"No," she whispered, sitting up.

Seth blinked under her gaze. "Uh, good."

She licked her lips, slowly leaning forward. Seth pulled back, frowning in confusion. What was she—

Before he had a chance to finish his thought, Summer grabbed his bare shoulder, her mind just then registering that he had taken off his shirt, and she pulled him over to her. Next thing he knew, her lips were on his. He closed his eyes as the kiss deepened, and the shock wore off. Then, as suddenly as the kiss had begun, it was over.

"Wh—what was that?" Seth asked.

Summer shrugged, slowly lowering herself onto her back. She reached for her sunglasses, putting them on. "A kiss, Cohen," was her response. And that was that.

*****

A few days later, Seth stared down at the phone in his hand. Who was he kidding? Why would she say yes now? She always turned him down, and he was used to it. Just because she had kissed him that day at the beach for god knows what reason, didn't mean she actually liked him and would want to do something with him. What was he thinking? Why even bother asking?

She had all but avoided him since that day, and he didn't know why he thought today would be any different. He glanced over at Ryan, who was beginning to look bored.

"Are you going to call her or not?"

"I don't know, man. I don't really see the point. I know the answer—it never changes. I don't see why I bother." Seth started to put the phone down, but Ryan grabbed it from him. "Woah, dude, all you had to do was say you wanted to call Mar—"

Ryan quickly dialed a number and handed the thrust the phone back into Seth's hands. "Don't say I never did anything for you." He walked off, leaving Seth alone.

Seth put the phone up to his ear in confusion. It was ringing. Suddenly, someone answered, "Hello?"

"Oh my god."

"Cohen?"

"S-summer?" Seth choked out, starting to sweat. He cleared his throat.

"Did you want something?"

"No, yeah, um...I was wondering if you wanted to...do something."

"Like what?" she asked.

His eyes widened. He hadn't expected that kind of response. He had been waiting for a laugh or a dialtone, or...well, anything other than that.

"I don't know, anything. We could go to the movies, or—Summer? _Summer_?"

Seth frowned. Did she just hang up on him? Yup, there was the dialtone. Well, that's awesome. He knew it had been too good to be true.

"He what?"

"He just called and asked me if I wanted to go to the movies. That was, like, exactly what the last letter I got said. Something about us going to the movies. And then there was the letter I got the other day, the one saying somethink about him dreaming of us going to the beach, and then that day we went to the beach. I'm, like, starting to think he's the one sending me the letters again."

"So what did you tell Seth?" Marissa asked her friend, frowning.

"I hung up on him," Summer admitted. "I panicked."

"Summer, what if Seth really isn't the guy sending you the letters?"

"What are you saying? That I should go out with Cohen? _Ew_."

"I'm saying you should at least give him the benefit of the doubt. Call him back."

"No way."

"Summer—"

"Alright, Coop. Fine. But if he kills me in my sleep, I blame you."

Marissa snorted. "Duly noted. Now pick up the phone and call him."

Summer bit her lip, staring at the phone Marissa was holding out to her. They were sitting in Summer's bedroom, after Summer had called Marissa and told her to come over right away. Marissa didn't question her; she told her father where she was going and ten minutes later, here she was.

"Do I hav—"

"Summer." Marissa gave her an encouraging smile, and Summer slowly let out a breath.

"Okay, here goes." She dialed Seth's number and listened to it ring a few times, before someone finally picked up.

__

"Hello?"

"Hi Mr. Cohen, is, um—"

"Seth," Marissa hissed, laughing.

"Right. Is Seth there?" Summer threw her pillow at Marissa, giving her a look.

__

"Who may I ask is calling?"

"Summer Roberts."

__

"Oh, hi, Summer. Hold on a second, Seth is right—"

"Hello?"

"Cohen?"

Seth cleared his throat. _"Yeah, hey."_ There was a click as Seth's father hung up the phone.

"Hey."

__

"...What's up?" he asked, when she didn't say anything else.

"Oh. Right. Um, if you still wanted to do something..."

__

"When?"

"Now?"

__

"I'll be right over."

"Oh, okay. But Cohen?"

__

"Yeah?"

"_No_ movie."

__

"Of course not."

"Bye."

__

"Bye, Summer," he replied in a daze.

Summer hung up the phone, turning to her friend. "There. Are you happy now?"

Marissa just answered with a big smile on her face.

-

__

Your body's warm  
But you are not  
You give a little  
Not a lot  
You coup your love  
Until we kiss  
You're all I want  
But not like this  
I'm watching you disappear  
But you, you were never here  
It's only your shadow  
-


	3. Sk8er Boi

A/N:: Thanks for the reviews again. ;D Sorry I didn't specify the song at the bottom of the chapter. It was 'Shadow' by Britney Spears. It's on her new CD [In the Zone] which is AWESOME. I recommend going out and getting it if you like Britney. Anyway, the song in this chapter [at the bottom] is, of course, Sk8er Boi. It's by Avril Lavigne, and her CD [Let Go] is great, too. So buy that one, too!! LOL. ;P Well, on to the chapter. P.S. sorry it took so long to get up. ;x

Chapter 3 - Sk8er Boi

"Where are we going?" Summer wanted to know as she followed Seth to his car.

He glanced over his shoulder. "You'll see."

She rolled her eyes. "Ooh, mysterious."

He grinned at her, opening her door. She stared at him for a second, then looked at the car.

"Having second thoughts?" he asked nervously.

"N-no," she replied. "Let's go." She lowered herself into the car, moving out of the way and watching him close the door for her. _No one's ever opened the door for me like that before_, she realized. It was actually kind of nice.

Seth jogged over to the driver's side and opened his own door, falling into the driver's seat. He flashed her a grin before starting the car and backing out of the driveway.

Summer ducked her head to hide her own smile, an unusual feeling of excitement and nervousness growing inside her. She took a deep breath, hoping he was taking her somewhere where she wouldn't see anyone she knew. She felt guilty at the thought, but she tried to convince herself that she just didn't feel like socializing at the moment.

"You're pretty quiet," Seth observed after about ten minutes of silence. He turned the radio down slightly.

"Is this a date?" Summer asked him.

Seth sucked in his breath. _What was the right answer here?_ "Um...what do you think?"

"It depends on where we're going."

"I was going to, um, going to—"

"Yes?"

"Take us to get something to eat."

"Dinner. That's a date," she pointed out.

"And that's...bad?" He bit his lip, stealing a quick glance over at her. "It doesn't have to be a date."

"Oh."

Seth sighed. _Was that disappointment?_ "Summer, I'm trying really hard to say what you want to hear, but I'm sort of having trouble."

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't try to impress me or humor me or whatever it is you're doing. Just say what you're thinking."

Seth's mouth curved in a smile. "I don't think that would be very appropriate, Summer."

"_Ew_. God, Cohen, way to ruin the moment."

"We were having a moment? Damn, I missed it."

"You are such a dork." Summer sighed, looking out the window. 

He touched his hand to her knee for a brief second, and she slowly lifted her gaze. "I think this is just two friends going out to eat and enjoying each other's company."

She looked relieved. "Oh. So, like, where are we going?"

Seth smiled. She was going to love this. Ryan had suggested this place right on the outskirts of town where he was planning to take Marissa. It sounded very romantic, and Seth was sure that he and Summer would have a good time.

"We're going to _Cuore d'amore_. It's this new Italian place that opened up on the edge of—"

Summer gasped. "No. No. God, I knew it was you."

"No what? No Italian? And you knew _what_ was me?"

"Don't play innocent, Cohen. I, like, totally figured it out. I guess subtlety isn't exactly your strong point."

"What are you _talking_ about?" Seth demanded, glancing at her with a confused look on his face.

"_Cuore d'amore_, that's what I'm talking about. You just wrote about that place in the last letter you sent to me. And now you're, like, taking me there," she explained.

"I—what? You still think I'm sending you those letters? Summer, I thought we got past that."

"Don't even try to deny it. I know how you feel about me," she told him with narrowed eyes.

He scratched his head, pulling the car over onto the side of the road and stopping. He turned to her. "Yeah, well, it's not really a secret. But that doesn't mean I go around stalking you and writing you cheesy love letters. It's not my style," he told her.

She rolled her eyes. "Please. Like _you_ have a style."

"Right. And thanks. My point was that I am not the one writing the letters, though."

"Prove it."

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. "Alright, sure. Now how do you propose I do that?"

"How should I know?"

"Do you want to go somewhere else or what? What do you want to do now?" he asked, trying not to cry out in frustration.

"I don't...Ugh, maybe you should just take me back home."

"Wh—" Seth threw his hands up. "No, yeah, whatever you want. Fine."

He turned the key in the engine and started the car again, the tires squealing as he sped down the road. He made a U-turn and headed back in the direction of Summer's house.

*****

Summer stalked upstairs and threw open her door. It hit the wall with a bang, and Marissa jumped from her position on the bed. Summer stared at her.

"What are you still doing here?" she asked, eyeing the stack of CDs in front of her friend.

Marissa smiled guiltily. "Busted. I was just looking for that CD you just bought. I was going to burn a copy of it, but I can't find it. So now I'm just looking through your other CDs. I told your stepmom what I was doing."

"Oh. It's over here." Summer walked over, found the CD, and handed it to her friend.

"Thanks." Marissa paused. "So..." she said slowly, "what happened?"

"Seth is, like, totally the one writing me those letters."

"He said that?" Marissa's eyes widened.

"Well, no, but he was taking me to the same place that it said in the letter. That's three times, Coop. It can't just be a coincidence."

Marissa scratched her head. "Summer—"

"I don't even know what I was thinking going with him to begin with. I mean, he's like—Cohen." She shuddered.

"Seth's not that bad. He can even be...cool sometimes."

"Cohen? Cool?" Summer snorted. "Those two words _don't_ go together."

"Give him a chance, Summer."

"He got one tonight."

"Give him another one."

"I'm not going out with my stalker. That's too creepy."

"Sum, he's been crazy about you for years. _Years_. Why would he just now start sending you those letters?"

"I don't know." Summer thought about it. "Maybe it runs in the family. Maybe there's, like, some crazy gene that takes a while to kick in, and—"

"Are you even listening to yourself?"

Summer shook her head. "What about Cohen's dad? He's a little..."

"There is nothing crazy about the Cohen family," Marissa insisted, trying to hold back a laugh. "They're perfectly normal." Summer crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, normal enough," Marissa corrected.

Shaking her head again, Summer replied, "I don't know. I think I need to start hanging out with more people. You and I, Coop, we need to go to more of Holly's parties. We hang out with Cohen and Chino too much. It's almost predictable, and that's boring. I don't want to be bored. Screw Holly and Luke. We can go to the parties to meet new guys. Hot guys. _Interesting_ guys. What do you say?"

Sometime in the middle of all that, Summer had begun to whine and look at Marissa with a puppy-dog face. Marissa fell back onto the bed, sighing. She closed her eyes.

"Alright...fine," she gave in. "We can go. She's having a party tomorrow night. But if I don't have a good time within the first half hour, I'm leaving," she warned.

"Great. It's a deal. You won't regret it, Coop." Summer beamed.

Marissa bit her lip. _I regret it already, _she thought. "Yeah. Well, I better get going. I promised Dad I wouldn't be gone too long. Dr. Kim called my house and told him that I wasn't doing so good in calculus, and now he wants me to study like all the time."

Summer nodded, standing up. "See you later."

Marissa held up the CD Summer was letting her borrow. "Thanks."

She left the room, closing the door behind her, and Summer collapsed onto the bed. She looked around her room, wishing more than anything that she have never received any of those anonymous letters.

"What is she doing now?"

Marissa switched the phone to her other ear, rolling her eyes. "Probably just sitting there, feeling guilty but trying not to admit it to herself. She's probably staring at the phone, fighting the urge to call him right now." She laughed, taking a drink of her bottle of water.

"Something drastic needs to happen," Ryan told her. "Seth knows how he feels about Summer, but we need to find a way to get her to realize that she likes him, too."

"She's stubborn," Marissa said with a sigh.

"He can be, too. You should see him right now. He doesn't even want to play video games. This must be serious."

Marissa grinned. "I'm coming over, I have a plan."

A smile spread across Ryan's face. "I'll be waiting."

They hung up, and Ryan walked over to Seth, who was staring blankly at the TV, which wasn't even turned on.

"What are you doing?" Ryan demanded.

"Watching the TV, what does it look like?" Seth replied, his eyes still on the big box in front of him.

"Most people actually turn it on first," Ryan teased.

Seth blinked. "Hey, who turned it off?" His looked at Ryan in confusion.

"Don't look at me."

Sandy Cohen, Seth's father, poked his head into the room. "I turned it off. You weren't even watching it, anyway. You didn't even blink when I turned it off. It was wasting electricity."

"Yeah, 'cause we can hardly afford it as it is."

"No need to be wasting money, no matter how much we have," Sandy pointed out. He disappeared back into the kitchen.

Seth turned to Ryan. "Who was that on the phone?"

"Marissa," Ryan responded without hesitation. "She's—" The doorbell rang. "Here."

He went over to the front door, opening it. Marissa walked in, a big smile on her face. She greeted Ryan and walked into the living room and over to Seth.

"Hey, Seth."

"Marissa. Long time no see. It's been, what, fourteen hours? Fifteen?"

"I'm not counting, Seth."

He shrugged moodily. "Sorry, I think I'm just going to go to bed. I'm not in a very good mood and I don't want to, well, bring you guys down. That cool?" He glanced from Ryan to Marissa.

"No, no. Don't go to bed. I came over to see you."

"To see _me_?" Seth echoed. "What for?"

"To, uh..."

"You want to talk about _her_, don't you?"

Marissa smiled innocently, and Seth groaned.

"Alright, out with it."

"She is freaking out right now," Marissa confided. "She really thinks it's you writing the letters."

"But I'm not."

"How do you explain the weird coincidences?"

"Simply as labeling them coincidences," he returned, frowning.

Marissa and Ryan exchanged a glance, and Seth gritted his teeth.

"You guys think I'm writing them, too!" he accused.

"Well, no—"

"Just because I like her doesn't mean I am going to go all psycho and stalk her. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go to b—"

"Okay, okay, forget about the letters," Marissa told him. "Maybe you should just think more about the guy that's writing them. You could learn something from him."

"I could learn something from the guy that's stalking Summer? What, how to get her to get a restraining order from me?"

"No. You need to take action. You can't just sit around forever and wait for her to come to you," Ryan explained.

"I have not...Okay, yeah, I guess I have just kind of sat there until now. But tonight—we were actually going out, until she freaked out and told me to take her home. Maybe I should finally take the hint and—"

"No!"

"No," Marissa echoed. "She's just getting creeped out by the letters. Just try one more time."

Seth started to shake his head. "I don't see the—"

"Sleep on it."

"Fine. Yeah. I'll sleep on it," Seth promised. "Can I _go_ to sleep now?"

"Sure, go right ahead."

Seth eyed them both before turning around and hurrying up to his room.

Marissa and Ryan looked at each other, grinning.

__

-

He was a skater boy

She said 'see ya later boy'

He wasn't good enough for her

She had a pretty face

But her head was up in space

She needed to come back down to earth.

-

****

A/N: This chapter was kind of boring, no?? Sorry about that. I don't know where this story is going, but maybe if I plan it out before just writing it, I might be able to do a better job. Don't give up just yet. ;D Feedback helps [hint hint]. LOL. ;P Oh…and I missed last week's episode of theOC. I'm so mad at myself. Did anyone record it?? If you can make me a copy, I'll pay for the tape and for shipping. But if you review, PLEASE--no spoilers from that episode. ;/ Please, please. ;) lol. I hate spoilers, even though to you they aren't spoilers, hehe. But please help me out--if you can make me a tape, e-mail me @ SethNSummerShipper@hotmail.com**. Thanks so much.**


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